The Litigation Psychology Podcast - Episode 247 - Identifying and Managing 5 Difficult Types of Witnesses

The Litigation Psychology Podcast

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Bill Kanasky, Jr., Ph.D. joins host Steve Wood, Ph.D. to discuss five (5) problematic witness types. Steve and Bill talk about who these witnesses are, how to identify them, and how to work with each type of witness:

1) The overly agreeable witness - a witness who is willing to agree with everything opposing counsel says or implies;
2) The defensive witness - someone who wants to argue or won't agree with even basic facts;
3) The angry witness - a witness whose rage about many/all aspects of the litigation prevent them from working constructively with the legal team and/or who are defensive in their demeanor;
4) The apathetic witness - a witness who appears uncaring;
5) The experienced witness - a potentially arrogant witness who has prior experience with testifying and therefore may believe they know what to do and what to expect which could lead to a compromised performance during testimony.

Each witness type can potentially fall victim to fight, flight, or freeze responses. Fight is an argumentative response when a witness wants to argue and defend their actions. Flight is when the witness feels scared or triggered and responds in a way to pacify the questioner via explanations and sharing too much information. And the freeze response is when the witness simply agrees with the assertions of the questioner and doesn't want to contradict them. Effective witness training requires proper neurocognitive assessment of the witness to determine their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral state and an appropriate amount of time to identify potential psychological barriers that will prevent the witness from fully understanding and embracing the training and prep so their testimony can be effective. Watch the video of this episode: https://www.courtroomsciences.com/r/O5F

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